Young filmmakers are becoming more prevalent within the millennial generation, with more and more people picking up a camera and shooting whatever they can. Schools, such as the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries in Brisbane, have pumped out talented filmmakers who have been working on their craft for years before, during and after their time within this creative environment.

Photographer and videographer Tatjana Hamilton is a 20-year-old music and landscape photographer who is set on big things for her career.

“I’ve been working at this for so long, since I was a little girl, I’m at a stage where I am professional and I am doing this as a living… so the age and the professional thing comes into play a lot.” Learning under her professional photographer father, Tatjana has been inspired from a young age and has an impressive and extensive portfolio for someone so young.

“There is still a stigma with older clients, they’re like oh you’re young you don’t know what you’re doing.” She has photographed for Australian artists such as Yeo and rapper Tom Gaynor, or better known as Allday. She has toured with the artists, photographing their performances and further adding to her portfolio. “He [Tom] sees that I love my job so much and he’s just incredible, he’s an amazing musician, he loves what he does… That’s why I love the music industry as well, because there are so many young people doing so well, they’re doing what they love and they see that I love what I’m doing.”

Tatjana met the Australian rapper last year at the Maroochydore music and arts festival when she sat down to interview Allday’s Dj. “I met Tom at Maroochy music festival last year… I interviewed his DJ, Paulo… Met tom, met a few other really cool people. I was kind of fangirling. I met George Maple… I don’t even know now it was a blur.” When she met the artist, she was one of the head photographers shooting for music magazine Futuremag Music. The magazine captures Australian artists through photography and interviews. Hamilton also began her own magazine in 2016, The Creatives Journal. Similarly, to Futuremag, the journal captured interviews with world class artists.

“I’ve met lots of people through my magazine… and once you meet one person you kinda meet another and then you gain contacts… as a friend of mine said the other day I don’t make contacts I make friends…”. Hamilton’s direct approach to artists for photography jobs is well beyond her years and astounds people when they discover how young she is. Being a part of the industry requires a drive that pushes photographers to consistently go beyond what is comfortable and approach professionals that have colossal fan bases and thousands of followers.

“People think of it in such a sterile environment, ‘oh yeah, I make contacts’… successful photographers and videographers do really well because they treat these people like friends… A lot of it is about hustle, I used to not be about that. I used to be quite timid… If you have that determination a lot of the time they’re kind of like ‘oh, cool she really wants this, I’m gonna give them a chance.”

For someone of such a young age, many 19-year-olds find it difficult to approach even strangers to ask a simple question, let alone someone they admire and are a public figure.

“I went on tour with Yeo last year in September and they actually approached me… that was a massive moment in my music photography career especially.” With some photography jobs leading to dead ends, like Hamilton described, working with artists such as Yeo pushed her career forward, opening doors for her that led to people knowing her name as a Brisbane photographer.

“It gave me a lot of credibility… if you have that name behind you then people are like ‘yeah I know that photographer’… I meet photographers and they know who I am, it’s the weirdest thing ever. It’s a good feeling.”

Many of Tatjana’s inspiration are local and global photographers. Many of which have varied styles when it comes to their photography. Artists such as Elsa Bleda and Todd Hido, who’s work looks at landscape photography with a lot of night shooting, glimpsing into a lonely and often beautiful night world.

“Its peering into a moment in life at night, she’s just incredible…I love her work [Bleda], I’m trying to implement stuff like that… I don’t want to limit myself to one thing like she does because I feel like I can capture a lot of different things well… I don’t want to do just music or landscape, I want to do all of it. All sorts of photography interest me.”

Hamilton’s approach to the way she shoots her images is an explicit description of how photography affects people who appreciate it. Emotion is the key driving force in her work, something that is emotive and powerful. Photography for her isn’t a hobby, its impulsive and an obsession. “Sometimes you look at something and think yeah that would be good, then you look at it again and think yeah I have to take it… If it elicits and emotion from you in any sense… you can take really good photos.”

“I really like the idea of one still photo… It’s one moment, still in time and that really stands out to me... there’s something really special about that”

“When people keep telling you you’re good at something, you just keep doing it.” Making it in the industry as a young musician is no menial task. If you’re in it, you’re in it. Singer/songwriter Elliot Cox is working to become a successful musician, although his success may not necessarily see him in the limelight or on the front page of a magazine with some scandal.

Dylan Nash Photography

“I’m a bit deep in now so I may as well keep going… People see success in the creative industries as being famous and all that, I could sell out little shows till I was sixty and it would be cool”. Although he emulates a humble aura, Elliot’s songs ooze cockiness and confidence which creates for entertaining music. “There’s so many things in this song that are so cocky of me, this second verse says, ‘you’ll read about me in the papers, tell your friends about me, tell your sister’ because all my mates have hot sisters”.

Peaches and Cream are Elliot’s EP, with acoustic, pop sounds and a relaxed vibe he will be releasing it for listening online for free! His nonchalant approach to music and the way he creates is juxtaposed by his long hours of work and intense dedication to the album.

“I wrote peaches and cream when I quit Macca’s… It was a don’t worry be happy sort of song”. The title song of the EP itself gives a sense of calm and easiness. When asked how the title came to fruition, with an intention for an answer of mass proportion he simply replied, “I just thought it was a cool title, to be honest”.

Elliot moved from the UK when he was nine, and discovered he enjoyed music when he had to do it was required in school. It then moved from that to classes that worked to his advantage to further his passion. “They had this boys choir, you get to miss an afternoon of class, they give you a pair of drumsticks and you get to smack chairs to rhythms and sing Green Day… I was like yes this is great!”

Although he started his music career at a young age, he’s come a long way and still has a way to go, “I still don’t feel like I’m really good at guitar… I mean I go to the con, there’s kids doing production and they’re just freaks…”. Elliot attends the Conservatorium of Music at Griffith University in Brisbane, which is a music university for elite musicians and prodigy producers. Cox studies a Bachelor of Music Technology alongside fellow musician and up and coming producer Sam Hogg, “He’s a freak! he just knew so much, he had done studio stuff before he even did the degree and somehow we just teamed up and I just kept writing songs and he kept recording them”. Elliot opened for Hogg’s brother Jamie’s EP launch earlier in the year, playing alongside other young artists as well as playing small gigs here and there.

“It’s just emailing and knowing people like I’ll help my friends out and them helping me out… I opened for some of my friends and they’ll open for me… You go to gigs and you meet other people, if there’s a band that you like you just keep going to their gigs… when you go to local gigs you can meet the band afterwards, I don’t think people realise that”.

Elliot’s approach to meeting people at gigs is a simple yet effective one, “If I play gigs and meet people after it brings them back if you chat to everyone… It’s being a people person, if you can’t do that just get drunk, couple of tequilas, you’ll be sweet”.

Elliot Cox’s EP Peaches and Cream launches on the 8th of February in West End, Brisbane.

Fashion is a universally empowering medium, allowing people to express their freedoms, sexuality and individuality. Kimbra, the mastermind behind Kimbralou, is changing the game. Described as the CEO of the Power Pussy she is creating a new era of fashion to empower minorities.

“As my daughters were growing up and with their friends, I’ve always spoken about being a power pussy, now I’m the CEO of Power Pussy Inc… I talked to these girls about owning themselves and being unique no matter what”. Not only has Kimbra been a powerhouse mother, but has provided bright and intricate collage fashion for the LGBTQ community.

“The couple of models that I scouted here and one is an actual drag queen and they’ve got a show that’s emerging and becoming more popular called BLUR… Albert and Sven are my main boys… I just love them! I’m absolutely just feeding on their creative energy… they’re both just unique”. Since Kimbralou started five months ago, Kimbra has had a successful runway show in the RAW exhibition which exhibited her vibrant work through her array of models.

“I’m very loose with everything and I’m happy to share anything… as long as you can own the piece I put you in on the runway, you’re in”. The models are an arrangement of drag queens from Brisbane, strippers and professional models who were drawn to her fashion.

The pieces created by the artist are thrifted completely, with every inch of the work being bought secondhand and recycled. “The images and the threads, the cotton and even the sewing machine, it’s all thrifted”. Kimbra’s approach to her work comes in a way that many artists wish they could experience naturally. “I totally relax with it and I find it comes to me, it sounds really weird, I just let it happen organically and as I’m going around I just buy it, pick it up and let it come to me”. Her vision is executed in her work and is evidently an expression of what loud designs come to her.

Kimbralou itself began as a hobby for Kimbra, as she works professionally as a nurse. “I’m just flying with the journey, at the end of the day I’m a cardiology nurse, this is a hobby as has been selling second-hand fashion and the toys… it’s all a hobby”.

Kimbra’s passion for second-hand fashion came from her daughters love for PVC toys. After incorporating the toys into fashion, she moved to bigger things. “I saw there was fashion laying on the ground for next to nothing so we incorporated collectable toys with fashion… to this day we still do that… “I saw on Instagram that the Brisbane workshop people had an embroidery workshop with this girl called Harley who was a collage artist… I went and did that just to meet her… I just had this feeling, I had to meet this girl for some reason, I didn’t know why”.

Her meeting with a fellow artist inspired her collage art. Her work is a mixture of popular culture, using famous quotes and images and mashing them together. Some of her work strongly expresses her cheekier side and some her strong, independent side. “Because I’m a hustler by trade, I need to hustle a good price and I’m in the know of how to get the pieces, I’m always able to know what’s in fashion and also know where to get the good pieces for cheap”.

Kimbralou is a breakthrough fashion label, with works heavily influencing and becoming involved with the LGBTQ community, being worn to drag shows in Brisbane and in the future well beyond. “Where to for Kimbralou? Who knows! It’s been a crazy journey, I still to this day don’t know how I got onto the runway.”